Archive for January, 2010

I have a number of foreign friends. With almost all of them I have had “The Conversation” about race in the USA. I’m going to combine the different conversations here because I’ve had “The Conversation” many times.

I was in a restaurant with a foreign friend. She knew in a general way about the racial problems here but not in detail – no more than the average American knows about the nuances of racism in the Sudan. Americans just know that the Sudanese are killing each other.

I tried to explain how the races are so divided that in many places the two even have separate dialects, music, holidays, and economics. I tried to imitate the dialects and told her about “Ebonics.” I tried to explain the roots of the blues, and how rap evolved from a fairly innocent regional art form to more or less a representation of gangsta life. I had to explain the word “Gangsta.” I told her about Governor Wallace and Rosa parks. I explained how the civil war was about slavery, but not totally about freeing the slaves. I tried to explain the huge influences of this internal yet foreign culture, how it has been of enormous benefit to the country’s culture (and the world’s really).

In the course of the conversation I had to use the word “Black” and “African-American” several times. I had to explain the “N” word (very quietly!).

Then I noticed a black couple sitting at a table just close enough to hear scraps of our conversation.

They were staring at us more than usual.

“Great,” I thought, “now I’ve broken the eggs.” I couldn’t get up and go over to them and explain. Maybe they hadn’t heard it at all but were staring at the painting behind me. Maybe they had heard just enough to understand. More likely though, they had heard just enough to think the worst. Had I walked over to them to explain, it would have been incredibly awkward, specially if they hadn’t been thinking what I was thinking. Maybe it would have been insulting for me to have assumed that they didn’t understand. I don’t know, but they didn’t look happy.

It killed our conversation. When we left the restaurant I sadly remarked that in America, almost no conversation between members of the opposite race is without racial context. It is a pernicious fact that impedes racial progress.

But the good part – as I’ve grown older, the problems have receded to some degree. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to endure the the tooth-grinding situation where white colleagues would assume that I felt the same way as them and conspiratorially talk some racist smack, often resulting in the end of friendships. There are fewer cross-burnings and lynchings. I frequently see the heart-warming sight of interracial couples. African-americans are seen everywhere and there are fewer “white” communities. And of course there’s Obama.

But of course there continue to be ghettos, like Camden, NJ. There are the overflowing jails. There are disparities in education. It’s not over yet.

So: there’s my experience with “The Conversation.” I will continue to have it, although it will have to be furtively discussed like a drug deal, proving that the problems here are far from over.

I recently read a discussion criticizing MLK’s statement “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

The criticism was based upon the ideas that “Salvation comes from Jesus, and to call him “maladjusted”, even in a creative sense, is not good.”

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of MLK’s intent.

If you read “Letters from a Birmingham Jail” you will see that MLK’s intent was to state that nice, quiet protesters do not bring about change. You have to make a pest out of yourself – you have to be disruptive (although not violent).

This is what Christ did. He insisted upon making change and was prepared to spend his life if required to make a difference.

Another way to look at it (since Jesus didn’t always want to follow this path, or at least had moments of weakness) is that God, unwilling to revoke the free will that he had given to the human race, needed a way to convince people to take the right path and was prepared to use his son to do it.

Either way, the point is not to call Jesus maladjusted. It is to say that you can’t do things the way they have always been done if you don’t want things to stay the way they are.

Even for non-Christians, this is a good thing to know and makes MLK a hero even for those of us not challenged by discrimination and the heavy weight of history.

Daniel Greenspan just vomited in the alley in back of a strip joint in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by throwing him a wet napkin!

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… sodomized a chimpanzee in a dumpster in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by getting in line!

…farted under the covers in the game “Degenerate Village.”

… just stumbled over a trash can while rummaging in a dumpster for food in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by struggling for the choice morsel.

… just failed to sustain an erection while receiving the attentions of a $20 ‘ho because he was too wasted in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by tossing him an HIV test kit!

… flunked out of college because he spent all of his parents’ money on pizza and beer in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by letting him sleep in your basement!

…Offended his friends by making this FB app in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by un-friending him!

… sold chemical-laced baby formula in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by giving him your business!

… has just tossed you a pair of soiled undergarments in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by letting him use your shower!

… just fed alka-seltzer to pigeons in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by feeding flypaper to the neighbor’s dog!

… drank your whiskey shot when you turned around to greet friends in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by not understanding what happened because you’re drunk!

… just looked the other way in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by also pretending not to notice.

… found a fat wallet near the site of a lethal traffic accident in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by pointing him to the nearest liquor store!

… hung out at the 7-11 waiting for day jobs in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by hiring him to perform degrading tasks!

… failed to pay child support in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by finding a good lawyer!

… wants to give you a crack rock in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by breaking out your pipe!

… just stumbled into the polls and voted for the national socialist party because they gave him $5 in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by voting for the Communist party!

… stole candy from a child in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by diverting the police!

… has given you crabs in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by throwing him a lice comb!

… has embezzled millions of government TARP funds in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by criticizing Obama!

… has been bribed by Big Pharma in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by complaining about socialized medicine!

… wants to give you a bag of feces in the game “Degenerate Village.”

… has sweaty palms in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by letting him wash his hands in the gas station toilet tank!

… fell asleep in the sewer in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by urinating on him!

… found all of his things at the curb because he didn’t pay the rent in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by finding the nearest 24-hour grocery so he won’t freeze to death!

… ran when the rabbit done died in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by not telling anybody where he is!

… slept with his father’s underaged mistress in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by not telling Mom!

… piloted a drug submarine from Bogota to Florida in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by buying some junk!

… wants to put you in his porn movie in the game “Degenerate Village.”

… has just started receiving sexual favors from the neighbor’s daughter by blackmailing her in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by agreeing to not call the police as long as he gives you some of the action!

… just fired half of his employees but is still applying for their 401K benefits in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please give him a swiss bank account!

… wants to give you a huge pile of small bills in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by laundering it!

… wants to pop a cap in your ass in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please give him everything you have!

… wants to sell you some Danish child pornography while wearing a wire for the Feds in the game “Degenerate Village.”

… hasn’t figured out how to beat the rap in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by covering for him!

… just mugged the pizza man in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please light up and chow down in the back of his 1983 monte carlo!

… is cruising the playgrounds with his tinted-window van in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by giving him some duct tape!

… has hacked a computer and stolen 10,000 credit card records in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by tHrOw|nG sUm zErI0s ‘wAreZ!

… broke your window with a golf club in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by divorcing him!

… respectfully begs your attention to a sensitive matter concerning a Nigerian bank account in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by wire transferring the $1000 he needs to bribe officials!

… flushed some drugs while the SWAT team was breaking down your door in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help him hide the guns!

… just pretended not to notice the bleeding woman calling for help on the street below because he needs to get up early for work tomorrow in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by calling the police for him because it’s not his job!

… has kicked your dog in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please keep your mangy mutt inside in the future!

… needs help running his slumlord business that is really a front for a prostitution ring in the game “Degenerate Village.”

… admires his haircut in a shattered piece of the mirror shard he used to slice your throat with in the game “Degenerate Village.” Please help by bleeding!

What do you think this is? Tree branches at night? A satellite photograph of rivers? Care to guess?

Scroll down to find out…

Here it is in color:

It’s dry desert mud .

In the next image of a cactus flower, there is an insect inside. I’ve looked at many flowers in the deserts of Colorado, Utah and Arizona; there seems to be a different kind of insect that’s specialized to hang out inside each type of flower.